Decorative laminated products



'resinous material in an amount which irregularf Patented Sept. 8, 1942 DECORATIVE LAMINATED monuc'rs Samuel B. Collins, Wantage Township,

Sussen County, N. J.

Io Drawing. I Application October 28, 1938,

Serial No. 237,486

' 6 Claims. (01. 41-22) This invention relates to the production of new and unusual color effects simulating on readily obtainable materials the effects heretofore obtained only through the firing of ceramics.

One of the desirable features of certain ceramic tiles used in building constructions and particularly for flooring and walls, especially in kitchens and bathrooms of private dwellings, aswell' as for other well recognized purposes, is the uniformity of color obtained with irregularity of pattern inthe individual tiles. Each individual tile has thesame general basic colors but no tile is an exact duplicate of any other. Such results have, as stated above, been obtained heretofore onlythrough the firing of ceramic materials.

This invention provides a surface having a mottled appearance resembling vitrified tile comprising a sheet of paper carrying a substantially uniform color on one surface impregnated with a.

ly transparentizes the paper and makes irregular The process for obtaining such an article comprises adhering a colored material to the underside of a paper sheet then applying an impregnating material containing -a transparentizing resin and a thinner to the exposed surface of the paper to irregularly transparentize the paper and make the coloring material visible through the paper in irregularly shaped areas.

In a copending application Serial No. 674,133 filed June 3, 1933,. for a Method for making imitation tile,. now patented as United States Patent No. 2,137,238, datedNovember 22, 1938, there isdisclosed an imitation tile constructed of readily obtainable inexpensive materials. The imitation tile as therein disclosed, includes a backing or support member conveniently made. from an asphaltic felt to which is attached a sheet of paper having printed thereon designations as for example, representations of the cement areas which normally separate individual tile and having on that surface a protective coating.

I have now found that certain combinations of materials when employed in structures such as those described in the aforesaid application, produce new and heretofore unobtainable results.

' More speeifically,.it has been discovered that when the paper layer has a coloring material on its underside and certain types of coating com-' positions as hereinafter more particularly de--' scribed are applied on the exposed. face, that these coating compositions irregularly transparentize the paper and make the coloring material I or fifty pounds to ill color.

. on the opposite face visible through the paper.

By proper control, the transparentized areas may be of relatively small size and irregular shape producing a mottled appearance closely resembling that of ceramic tile.

The paper may be of any good paper stock and preferably is wood pulp of the type known as book paper which has a weight of about forty as high as one hundred and twenty pounds per ream. This weight is based upon the equivalent of five hundred sheets, twenty-five inches by thirty-eight inches. Where the lighter weight paper, fortyto flftypounds. is employed considerable difliculty may be encountered in getting uniform results as a small variation in the amount of coating material or method of application will markedly vary the re- I sults. With the higher weight paper there is a tendency to obtain a'relatively large mottle. In most cases, it has been found preferable to use paper of from seventy to eighty pounds per ream, unglazed and uncoated.

For many purposes the paper may be a plain white or any other uniform color. Again, the paper employed may be a grained paper of two or more colors or two or more shades of the same Obviously, the original color or arrangement of colors on the paper base influences the final effects obtained but the results hereinafter described are to a considerable extent independent of'the original color of the paper but influenced thereby. Where the invention is to be applied to the formation of sheets comprising a plurality of tile, it may be desirable to printlines of a size and color to represent cement, normally used forsetting tileon what will be the exposed surface. As in the case of the tile disclosed in- "the aforesaid application, the completed product as the exposed face or surface. The opposite face or surface will be described as the underside.

The underside of the paper must be provided with a color which is different from the normal color of the paper. This color may be obtained in a number of ways. For example, the underside of th paper may be coated with a pigmented, dyed or otherwise colored coating material. In another modification, the color may be applied to the underside of the paper by coloring the adhesive used to cement the paper to a base. In all cases, the coloring material, whether a coating on the underside of the papenan adhesive or a colored base as hereinafter described, must be firmly and uniformly in contact or adhered to the underside of the paper when the coating or impregnating material is applied to the exposed surface. The third method of applying the coloring material as suggested above is with the base or support for the paper. As described in the aforesaid application, the base may be a colored material, i. e., an asphaltaimpregnated paper felt uniformly adhered to the underside of the paper with a substantially colorless adhesive.

The coloring material adhered to the underside of the paper in any of the ways above described may be either soluble or insoluble in the ingreclients of the coating applied to the exposed surface. Many modifications in the character of the final product are possible by a judicious selection of the coloring material. Where the coloring material is insoluble, the mottled effect is due primarily to the irregular transparentizing of the paper sheet. Where the coloring material is soluble in one or more constituents of the coating applied to the exposed surface, the mottled effect is due to the cause just stated but influenced by a bleeding of the soluble color material into the paper and particularly in the transparentized areas.

This invention is subjectto further modifications particularly with reference to the mounting of the paper, Mottled paper may be prepared without an original mounting and after complete preparation may be used as desired by mounting on any surface. Usually, however, it is preferable to mount the paper on a suitable support before applying the impregnating material to the exposed surface. acteristics of the product are naturally controlled by the character of the base on which the paper -is mounted and as examples of such bases may be mentioned the asphalt impregnated felt, described above, paper board, gypsum or other plaster boards, ply wood as well as other flexible and inflexible supports which may or may not lend themselves to embossing.

In the process of preparing the product) forming the subject matter of this invention, after a suitable paper, having the properties above described, has been selected and colored on its un-' derside in any of the ways above described, a

' liquid coating material is applied to the exposed areas bearing in mind, of course, that by duplication it is not meant that the details of any two areas are identical but as to general appearance, i. e., color-impressions, theyare very similar, In this way very interesting and pleasant effects are obtained.

A specific example of the method for carrying out the invention is as follows:

A sheet of yellow eighty pound paper which had lines representing cement areas printed on its exposed face was cemented to a backing sheet the composition of which was about 40% asphaltic material and about 60% fibrous material using as the cementing agent a casein glue. In this way the b ck backing sheet was firmly and uniformly adh red directly to the undersid of the paper. After the adherence was complete and the glue had dried, the laminated sheet was The possible uses and charembossed to form linear depressions along the cement printed areas. This embossing step could, however, have been delayed until after the coating step. After the sheet had been embossed it was coated with a phenol-aldehyde resin or Bakelite varnish by spraying a commercial varnish diluted with xylol on to the exposed surface. With a proper viscosity, which is a function of the relative proportion of the solids and the solvents or thinners, the varnish applied will irregularly impregnate the paper and transparentize it in a mottled manner. When the varnish is dried, the transparentized areas are darkened bythe influence of the black asphaltic material on the underside. The varnish dries to form a smooth film on th surface.

The application of the first or impregnating coat is the most important. After the application of the first coat, further layers of coating material will not afiect the mottled appearance but simply build up on the surface to increase its resistance to water, wear and washing. If there were insuflicient solids in the originally applied coating or an insufficient amountof impregnating material was applied to bring out the mottle, no mottling, or very little if any, would be obtained by applying additional coats. In some instances, the same composition may be employed for an additional protective coating or other compositions may be employed having more pronounced properties along certain desired lines 'such as acid or alkali resistance, freedom from all of these desirable characteristics.

surface. Because of its composition, viscosity and method of application, the coating material penetrates through the paper irregularly transparentizing it. The coating and impregnating material influenced by the type of paper and its constructional characteristics results in transparentizing only certain irregularly shaped areas. In the closest simulation of ceramic tile, the transparent or translucent areas are small, irregularly shaped and of a total area roughly approximating the area of the non-transparentized surface. It will be evident, of course, that by controlling the character of'the paper and, the composition of the coating as well as the type of coloring material on the underside of the paper that innumerable effects may be obtained. What is more important, it is possible to substantially duplicate the results obtained over extended The application 'of the coating and impregnating material to bring out the mottle produces another interesting and important eifectof depth. Although the actual layer of material on the surface of the paper as a coating may be only a few ten thousandths of an inch, the coated and impregnated sheet appears to have several hundred times as great a depth. 1

One coating and impregnating composition which has been successfully used comprised 58% total solids. This 58% includes 16% of a phenol formaldehyde resin of the type known as Bakelite with 42% of a mixture of oils in the proportion of three parts of linseed oil to each part of Perilla oil. The total solids included both theresin and the oil and the remainder of the composition was a naphtha thinner. This was sprayed on to eighty pound paper carrying a red coloring matter on the underside and mounted on wooden blocks. In all cases, mottledeflects were obtained which involved .a combination of the red coloring material showing through the paper and a certain crystallization. within the paper which added to the mottled eflect obtained. Where too great an amount was originally sprayed on, the surface was slightly irregular. It is accordingly preferable to limit the amount applied in the first application so as to obtain a smooth surface that can be later reenforced by the application of one or more layers'of protective coating.

A composition which contained 90% total solids comprising phenol formaldehyde resin, China-wood oil, linseed oil andnaphtha wasap plied as a roller coating. A mottled effect was obtained but the transparentized areas were very I large and a considerable amount of the material remained on the surface producing wrinkles.- In

some instances, this efiect may be desirable but for most purposes a smooth-surface would be more useful.

A very attractive sheet was obtained by spraying a mounted sheet of paper as above described with a composition which had 51.5% of solids of which 14.8% was an ester gum resin and 36.7% a three to two mixture of linseed and China-wood oil with the inclusion of a lead drier and naphtha as the thinner.

In another example, the coatingcomposition, which was 48.7% total solids, including 13.8% of ester gum resin and 34.9% oil (88 parts of lin-' seed to 12 parts of China-wood oil) diluted with naphtha, when sprayed on the same type of base also produced colored areas but in this case the colored areas were of smaller size and in a smaller proportion than in the preceding example.

Various proportions of a vinylite resin were employed in a coating composition but the vinylite resin would not penetrate and transparentize amples. When the paper is adhered to a colored base the adhesive influences the eflect produced. Fish glue accentuates the mottle while casein tends to retard this effect. Dextrine glue and flour paste have both been successfully employed. In addition to the resins given in the specific examples, the material commercially sold as Beckasol has also been successfully employed.

Although naphtha was the thinner in the several specific examples, xyloL as well as other thinners recognized in the art, is also suitable.

It will be seen that the resultsherein set forth are obtained when ,paper is impregnated and coated with a compo:ition having three basic ingredients namely, the resin, a drying oil and a thinner. Of course, more than one resin, more than one oil with or without driers and. several thinners may beiemployed in the same composition. Other modifying ingredients, as for example, gums, may be included or substituted at least in part for resins.

The coating material is preferably applied by spraying but with some compositions it may be found preferable tobrush the material on or apply it as a roller coating.

rial containing a transparentizing resin and a.

. shaped areas.

The method of application and the specific ingredients all influence the result obtained but when following the teachings above, it is possible to produce highly decorative surfaces with as many variations as could be desired. 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The process for preparing decorative sheets having a mottled surface comprising adhering a colored material to the underside of a paper sheet, then applying an impregnating material containing a transparentizing resin-and a thinner to the exposed surface of the paper in an amount only suflicient to irregularly transparentize adjacent areas of the paper and make the coloring material visible through the paper in irregularly shaped areas.

2. The process for preparing decorative sheets having a mottled surface comprising adhering a sheet of paper to a colored backing sheet, then applying an impregnating material containing a transparentizing resin anda thinner to the exposed surface of the paper in anamount only sufiicient to irregularly transparentize adjacent areas of the-paper and make the coloring material visible through the paper in irregularly 3. The process for preparing decorative sheets having a mottled surface comprising adhering a sheet of paper to a backing sheet with a colored adhesive, then applying an impregnating matethinner to the exposed surface of the paper in an amount only suflicient to irregularly transparentize adjacent areas of the paper and makethe coloring material visible throughthe paper in irregularly shaped areas.

4. The process forprepar ing decorative sheets having a mottled surface comprising adhering a colored material to the underside of a paper sheet, then applying an impregnating material containing from 25% to 70% of a non-volatile transparentizing material and a thinner to the exposed surface of the paper in an amount only sufficient to irregularly transparentize adjacentareas of the paper and'make the coloring material visible through the paper in irregularl shaped areas.

. 5. The process for preparing decorative sheets having a mottled surface comprising adhering acolored material to the underside of a paper sheet, then applying an impregnating, material containing a resin and a drying oil with substan-,

tially an equal amount of a thinner to the ex-- posed surface of the paper in an amount onlysuflicient to irregularly transparentize adjacent areas of the paper and make the coloring material visible through the paper in irregularly shaped areas.

6. The process for preparing imitation tile having a mottled surface comprising adhering a sheet of paper having representations of cement areas sAMuEL B. some. 

